The Adams Family

The Entitlement Trap

2011-08-22T18:54:00.000-06:00

I have heard wonderful things about Richard and Linda Eyre's newest book and their retreats at their home in Park City. I am always wanting to become a better mom and parent and they have amazing advice and information to help any parent. Their new book is coming out called "The Entitlement Trap: How to Rescue Your Child with a New Family System of Choosing, Earning, and Ownership"

Here is more information about the book and how you can pre-order yours today!

NYTimes bestselling authors, Richard and Linda Eyre have written an exciting new book called The Entitlement Trap and they invite you to join them in the cause to stem the tide of entitlement that is causing so many problems in today’s world.

August 22nd is National Entitlement Awareness Day. On this day, we invite you to help us spread the word about The Entitlement Trap and pre-order it yourself. You’ll get a book that may very well change the future of your family and your children - plus you’ll get a chance to win some exciting prizes.

By pre-ordering the book (following the links at the end of this page), you will:

Pay about $12 rather than the $18 the book retails for after its official release
Be one of the first to receive the book (you’ll get it September 6th, the very day booksellers get it)

If you have a blog and want to go the extra mile and receive an extra prize, please blog about the book and the giveaway on AUGUST 22nd (you can simply share THIS LINK on your blog) . Can you imagine the power of 100′s of mom bloggers all blogging about the same important issue on the same day? If you do a blog post on the 22nd and send the link and your mailing address to eyres@powerofmoms.com, the Eyres will send you your own special signed copy of the book. You’ll receive the book on September 6th, the day it is released. If you’ve pre-ordered the book, you’ll end up with two books – one of which will make a great gift!

http://entitlementtrap.com/giveaway.htm

One Surgery Down, One to Go

2010-10-22T15:11:00.009-06:00

Today was the day! Caitlin had her first surgery to start the process of removing her birthmark (a congenital melanocytic nevus). It appeared on her right shoulder about 3-6 weeks after she was born. We were recommended to a plastic surgeon, Faizi Siddiqi, down at Primary Children's back when we were concerned about it. We decided to keep an eye on it and haven't done anything with it since. As she grows though, it grows with her. She's become very self conscious of it and gets embarrassed easily with swimming suits or certain shirts where it would peak out of the sleeve. This seemed to be the perfect year to get it taken care of since we have met our deductible and co-insurance.

We met with Dr. Siddiqi about 8 weeks ago. We decided to go the route of putting a tissue expander in her arm above her birthmark for approximately 4 weeks. After her skin is all stretched out they will go in and cut out her birthmark and cover it with that extra skin. They had to special order the tissue expander to fit the exact spot that will be removed, therefore it took the 8 weeks to get scheduled for the first surgery. Caitlin was getting anxious about the surgery coming up. Every time we talked about it she told us not to because she didn't like thinking about it. They have pre-surgery classes that you can sign up for. I kept putting it off thinking we didn't need to go or that I didn't want to take 3 hours out of my day to just go to this class...but at the last minute I decided to take her this week. We picked the older 3 girls up after school and headed straight down there. It was so worth it just to ease Caitlin's mind. Before she was insistent on not wearing their p.j.'s...not after the class. She was worried about them putting needles in her arm before she got asleep...not after the class. They explained everything to the class by letting them see and play with doctor "toys". She was so calm for the remainder of the week that it made it all worth it! Caitlin was also super excited about the slushees she would get and the movies she could watch. She was a trooper!

We started heading down to SLC at 6:00 am and checked in at 6:45 am. Her surgery wasn't scheduled until 8:15, but we needed to check in early enough to get all the paper work done. I think Caitlin wanted it to be done quickly, she kept asking when we were going to go in for surgery. Finally they came. They gave her some "happy" medicine to calm her down in case she was anxious when they got to the operating room. We said our "See ya Later's" and she headed down the hall. About an hour later they were done and I went back to see her. She was still kind of out of it and it took her another couple hours to come to. It's always scary to see them out of it and not acting like themselves, but she quickly became the happy talkative Caitlin soon enough.

We will be going back in 2 weeks to insert more saline and then once a week, for the next 3 weeks, after that I will attempt to do it at home. We'll see how that goes! :)

Sorry if this grosses some of you out - this is what a tissue expander looks like. Kind of odd looking...it's like a rock was put under her skin. These next 6 weeks should be interesting! :)

Falling Leaves

2010-10-04T13:42:00.006-06:00

We decided to go for a drive up the canyon to take some pictures after the 4th session of General Conference. We had heard the leaves hadn't really changed, but we decided to go anyway for a fun Sunday drive. We headed up to Snow Basin and found a short nice trail that went along the bottom of the mountain. I was going to bring my tripod to take some family pictures, but Ken talked me out of it. I teased him that without my picture taking that in 50 years nobody would even know our children existed. :) I don't want to forget any moment while our children are growing up. I had a few pictures of me while growing up, but nothing like my girls will have. It's also for my sake because I forget things so easily...I don't want to look back and forget these important years, I want to remember every little thing we did. Somebody will be grateful for my efforts one day. :)
We had a nice little walk through the trails and got some great pictures. It was a perfect day for it, the temperature was about 78 degrees. All the leaves hadn't changed yet, but enough for us to get some fall photos out of them. We'll maybe have to try in a couple weeks and take my tripod to get some family ones, since we haven't taken any since Sophie was born. Before entering the trail Ken noticed a sign warning us of rattlesnakes. The minute he said something out loud, Caitlin wouldn't stop thinking or talking about it. She was so worried that a snake was going to come and get her, she even started stomping around making loud noises so they wouldn't think twice about coming her way. It reminded me of Parent Trap...too funny!

We headed back to the car to eat some granola bars (since we hadn't had dinner yet). The girls all seemed to have a good time. After we got home my sister, Brande, called and said they were heading home from Logan and wanted to stop by to see our house. So we jumped back in the car and headed over there to meet them. We had a nice short visit with them before they had to make their way home.

Delayed Project Complete!

2010-09-30T09:44:00.004-06:00

Over a year ago my friend, Jen, and I went to JoAnn's Fabric to buy some Halloween material for pillowcases. Remember my Christmas Pillowcases? I bought this fabric a month before, right after Halloween, when it was on the best deal. We just barely pulled it back out and completed them this week. I'm surprised I even knew where the fabric was considering how crazy things can be during a move. I've wanted this to be a surprise for the girls on the first day of October when they come home from school to find their new pillowcases on their pillows. Ashlan (being almost 11) has been very curious and asking lots of questions...."where are you going?", "what are you doing?", "is this for a special occasion?", "is it for my birthday?", "is it for Halloween?"...etc. All the other girls haven't had a clue. It's the easiest pattern and they look professional too, considering the one person who's not a seamstress. Two holidays down, many more to go!

Moving On....

2010-07-25T14:53:00.009-06:00

It's hard to believe how fast this past week has gone. We had 2 weeks after we got home from vacation to pack up the house and be out. I dreaded that moment. I kept thinking how I didn't want the day to come...maybe even to change my mind about moving. Of course, it was a little late for that. :) We still hadn't found a place to move to yet, so I continued my phone calls after vacation. It was about a week before we were suppose to be out of our house when I found a rental home. This nice couple wanted a 1 year lease. I had called before vacation and then again after we got home. The wife called me and said that they would let us rent for 6 months. They said we seemed like a nice family and that it wasn't fair that nobody would give us a chance. It was a little further East than I would have hoped, but it felt good and right when we walked through it. I was grateful that they were kind enough to see that we would take good care of the home. We had to come in and do a good cleaning on the home though. I'm not sure it's been thoroughly cleaned for the 16 years it's been here...in my opinion, it was disgusting. I never knew I was such a clean freak. :)

We were suppose to close on our house Wednesday, July 14th, however it didn't work out as we had planned. There were problems on the buyers end with their lender. Each day would pass without knowing what the outcome would be. The buyers' agent kept assuring us that they still wanted the house and they were worried that we would think they didn't want it. In the meantime we were debating whether or not to even move on the original move date, Friday, July 16th. Why should we have to be out of our house before we even need to be? Part of me wanted to stay a little longer...but we didn't know how much longer it would be. It could have been 2 days or 2 weeks. We realized that we'd have to go back and re-switch all our utilities and that didn't seem reasonable. We also had everything packed up in boxes and we had neighbors and ward members lined up to come and help us. So we proceeded and hoped that it would all work out in the end, after all everything else had fallen into place up until this point.

Friday morning I took the girls out front to take their pictures. Every first day of school or birthday I would take them out in our garden on our rocks and take a picture of them. I wanted one last picture in our perfect spot.
We went and grabbed a U-Haul so we could start loading all the boxes and light stuff that we could do without help. I didn't want to be that person that expected the Elders Quorum to do it all - we just needed help with the heavy stuff. :) It took Ken & I about 3 hours to load the truck. We only had 1 1/2 hours before the muscles were coming and we had to be back, so we hurried over to the rental house to unload the full truck. We made it back just in time! We were grateful for all the help that we got, we couldn't have done it without all those guys that volunteered to spend the afternoon giving service to the Adams' Family...in 100 degree weather. My sweet Relief Society President (and friend) whom I've worked with for the past 2+ years insisted on bringing us dinner that night, even after her whole family came to help us move. I was truly touched by her kindness that day and it still brings tears to my eyes. I wish I could have put her cute and amazing little family in a box and taken them with us. :)

It turns out that there was nothing wrong with the buyers qualification, it was the lender who was putting blame on the buyers' bank. After they decided to switch everything to a new lender on Friday night the 1st lender came back and promised they would close on Tuesday morning...almost a week later, which was better than what it would have been waiting for the new lender. We went in and signed the papers Monday night, July 19th and everything went through as promised by Tuesday night. We had originally asked for 48 hours after we close to be out of the house, so we didn't have to have it all cleaned and ready until Thursday. We still had quite a bit of stuff over at the house. It was kind of nice to have that extra 5 days to clean and also that I didn't have to stress about getting it ALL out by the deadline. Ashlan and Caitlin had Arts in The Park over at Chelsie Meadows Park, so I would drop them off and go clean and load up the van with more stuff. After we knew the closing of the house went through we decided to try to get the house ready sooner than Thursday, we knew they were anxious to get in as they were also put in a bad spot and having no where to live. So Ken and I made a trip to the house without the kids Tuesday night to load up the rest of the house and garage. Ken was having a harder time than I was, probably because it was his last time over at the house, however I was coming back in the morning to clean. That night I also took off the vinyl letters on our mailbox that said "Adams" and I put up one for the new people...that made it official. It was no longer our house.

I dropped the girls off in the morning at the park and headed over to the house with Ellie and Sophie. I took some pictures of them playing one last time on the swing set.
I finished cleaning the house and making sure it was just right for the new family. I know I probably did more stuff than I needed to, but as silly as it sounds, I wanted our house to know that it was loved one last time. I can't help but feel like our house (yes, it's still MY house) is a person...it was part of our family these past 10 years and it will always be apart of our memories. We will miss it A LOT!! I got one last picture of the girls sitting on our stairs inside. They weren't all in the best of moods, but I managed to get 1 good picture. :) As they were getting in the car I ran through the house one more time to make sure I didn't forget anything and to also give it one last touch with my Scentsy spray. I couldn't help but get emotional. It hadn't felt real until then, as we could go back to it whenever we needed to. This was it, no more. I drove off trying to control my sobs and trying not to let the girls see me. Definitely the hardest thing I've ever had to do!

Offer Accepted

2010-06-11T15:22:00.004-06:00

It's been really slow over here with the house selling. We have had a total of maybe 10 showings since we put it up. It had almost been 3 weeks since we showed it last when we got two showings within a day. Wednesday morning, June 9th, (which is exactly 2 months from when we put it up on the market) we got a call that an agent wanted to show it at noon. So after cleaning the house I grabbed the kids and headed to Wal-Mart for a few groceries. By 3:00 that afternoon I got a phone call from my agent, Betsy, that they wanted to put in an offer. They needed to get going on it pretty fast since he was leaving at 3:00 am for his job as a trucker. After negotiating 2-3 times we came out with a price that worked for everybody (for the most part). Obviously you want as much money out of a house you can get, but this economy pretty much stinks right now.

At first I wanted to refuse it, but Ken suggested we pray about it before we make a decision. I couldn't think straight because I was crying too hard, but Ken was sensible and prayed about whether it was right for our family and THEIRS. I was being selfish and was only thinking of our situation. This is what we wanted in the end, to be out of our house by July so we could start the building process of our next home and be in by Christmas. It was helpful to me to hear later from our agent that the couple is really excited to move in. I wanted to be able to pick and choose who moved into my house. I wanted to ask them the 20 questions and make sure they fit the image of the family that I wanted to move in. Unfortunately, you can't do that. We have felt at peace about it though and that is the one answer that I needed.

I definitely have mixed feelings about it. I knew this day would come, but I didn't know it would be as hard as it was the night we signed the contract. It would be hard no matter if it was this offer or the next, I just needed to separate myself from my house and the memories that I have had from the past 10 years. We will greatly miss all our friends, neighbors and ward members that we've been able to associate with...especially my girls. I am sad that everything my girls have known will change in the next month. On the other hand we are very excited to start the next chapter in our lives. We hope looking back in 1 year we'll see how Heavenly Father's hand has guided us to where we are suppose to be. We will officially be out on July 16th.

15 Months Old

2010-05-22T22:11:00.005-06:00

Ever since Sophie started walking a couple months ago, she has been on the go. She also has developed quite a personality along with her freedom. Here are some things about Sophie at this age that I don't want to forget:

Makes silly faces all the time - different ones everyday.
Loves to climb the couch.
Loves reading books.
She has found her voice, especially when she wants something. She yells with her very loud voice so EVERYBODY can hear, no matter where we are. Dinner time is the worst when she sits right next to Ken and I and we can barely eat because she's screaming in our ears.
She's a very picky eater. Some days we'll find something she likes and the next she doesn't like it at all.
If she's chewing something in her mouth and you offer her a drink she spits out whatever is in her mouth.
She gets easily distracted, you can't bother her while she's eating or else she won't finish.
She only has 3 teeth.
She loves to dance when music is turned on.
She knows a bunch of sign language: more, eat, water, baby, bird, dog, thank you, and please.
Her most used word is "Hi", she says it all the time.
She's gotten to be impossible at church, we may have to start taking turns to take her home for a nap.
Her favorite treat is a Popsicle.
She loves to cuddle.
Give her a paper and a crayon/pencil/pen and she is content for a while.
Phones are her favorite thing to play with.
Her sisters can make her laugh the hardest.
When you say "Bye" she blows you kisses.
You can often find her standing on her head looking through her legs.
She LOVES her naps and bedtime.

Mother's Day

2010-05-09T23:14:00.003-06:00

I had a great Mother's Day! My girls wanted me to stay in bed while they made me breakfast, but I can only stay in bed so long when I have 5 of us girls to get ready before 11 am church. Caitlin made me eggs with a little (okay, maybe a lot) added zing (I think it was allspice). I tried to eat as much of it as I could before I was "full". I'll need to teach them how to make pancakes for next year! I got cute gifts from them as well. Caitlin made magnets at school for me and Ashlan decorated a cup with a plant inside. I love getting all the fun gifts from my sweet girls!

The ward gave all of the women a yummy Symphony Chocolate Bar at church. I was actually good and didn't eat it all in one day. :) We played a couple of games of Skip-Bo after church before heading to my parents in Orem.

The girls zonked out on the way down, I thought it was cute how they were leaning on each other, which they rarely do. Sophie on the other hand is a pill now when we take her anywhere. She cries the whole time unless you feed her or entertain her. She was crying in the first picture and I got her to laugh by the end from tickling her. Hopefully that will end soon and she can go back to taking naps during our hour long drive to Grandma's and Grandpa's.

Grandma Teresa and Papa Layne with their 13 Grandchildren

Mom with us kids and Mom with Daughters/Daughter-in-Laws

Jumping and Kristy with Baby Cru (1 1/2 weeks old)

Coloring Saga

2010-05-07T23:01:00.001-06:00

Ellie wanting to pose for a photo, feeling a little left out of the picture taking.

Caitlin's Baptism

2010-04-24T22:41:00.001-06:00

It was a beautiful day for Caitlin to be baptized! It had been stormy all week and it cleared up just in time. Our Stake Conference is the first week in May so that is why they changed the Stake baptisms for the last week in April. She was the only one from our ward getting baptized this month so she was lucky to have the program all to herself. :) Grandma Teresa gave a talk on Baptism and then Uncle Doug gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.

Because each ward is only allotted 1 hour, the program needed to start on time, but as I was looking around it seemed like 1/2 my family wasn't there. I had given them the address, but no specific instructions on how to get there. I also hadn't warned them that traffic on the freeway could be bad with all the construction going on and to allow extra time. It seemed like we sped through the song and the talk and soon we were walking to the font. My two sisters ended up missing the baptism, but were there for the second half....I felt bad.

Baby Blessings and Baptisms are the same to me - STRESS! :) I want everything to be perfect. I run the day all through my head of how it is suppose to go and if it doesn't go as planned then it's all ruined. I literally could name off over 10 things that went wrong that in my eye wasn't "perfect". As I was venting to Ken he said "So you're probably mad that I messed up on the blessing, right?" I was like "No, not at all.". He said "So you could care less of how the actual ordination went, it's the stuff that nobody will ever remember or cares for that you spend all your time worrying about?" He definitely put things into perspective for me! I know this is something I need to continually work on by not stressing over the little things. Maybe I'll have this perfected by the time I start planning for weddings. :) (Let's hope I do!!)

I am so proud of Caitlin! She looked beautiful in her white dress and she was so happy when she came out of the water. I asked her if she wanted me to stand there and wait for her or if she wanted me to leave so she could do it all by herself. She was brave and wanted me to go out to watch. Caitlin was a little nervous because the water was so low and she thought she was going to hit her head on the bottom, but Ken did great and it all went smoothly. I could tell a difference in her countenance as we were getting her ready for the confirmation. She had a glow about her and at one point she was actually jumping up and down for joy. :) I hope she will always remember this special day and all the love our family and friends have for her!

It's Official!

2010-04-09T11:54:00.001-06:00

I didn't think this day would ever come! Ken has wanted to move for at least 2 years now, but he patiently waited for me to get on board with him. You could blame it on my indecisiveness and/or stepping out of my comfort zone, but I truly believe it wasn't our time. Last year at this time with everything going on, I couldn't bring myself to put the house up on the market...it was a scary feeling and made me sick thinking about it. Once I made that decision not to move it was a weight had been lifted off my shoulder and I was at peace with it. I've always said "I hope I will know when it is time to move and I will have that feeling"...that time is now.

I've always wondered how people could get the guts to put a sign in their front yard - letting the neighbors all know that you are leaving them and "betraying" them and the ward, I just didn't get it. I surprised myself when I didn't feel any of that as I saw the sign sitting in my yard, only sad for my girls who will lose their cute friends. As Ellie looked out of the window last night she said "What is that sign doing in our front yard?" I said "It's for people to drive by and say 'I want to come buy your house!" She then said as she started to cry "I don't want a new house, I like our house!" Of course that broke my heart as I hugged her back and almost broke out in tears with her. It briefly made me question my decision, but I knew that my original feelings hadn't changed. We've been in this house for 10 years this August. Ashlan was 8 months old when we moved in and this was the house the rest of our girls were brought home from the hospital to. There are lots of different emotions that go through me...we will be sad to lose good neighbors, to leave a great ward and to leave our first and only house, but I know there is a time and a season for everything. I am grateful for the peace that I feel as we go forward with this life changing decision. We still don't know where we are headed, but the sign is up. We're on to new adventures!

Grateful for Kind People

2010-03-13T17:27:00.002-07:00

Our new primary presidency was having a primary activity this morning. The older two girls have piano lessons on Saturday mornings and it was going to conflict with the activity. I tried to switch their lessons around, but their teacher didn't get back to me until it was too late. It was Ellie's first primary activity and was excited about it. I told her that she could go find her friends to be with and she immediatlely knew who she would find. While I was doing her hair she said "I get to go in my clothes?" I explained that it was Saturday and they don't have to wear church clothes because they're going to do some fun activities. She seemed confident that she could go by herself. We got in the car and dropped Ashlan and Caitlin off for their 10:00 piano lesson and then headed to the church to take Ellie to the activity.

I pulled up and had a thought "You should take her in". But instead I asked her "Would you like me to take you in or can you do it all by yourself?" I sat there and watched her walk in the church, hoping she would find the rest of the primary kids. I assumed she knew where she was going and that somebody would be in the hall to direct her to where the activity was. I headed home.

10:45 I got a call from one of the bishopric's wife. She said "Did you take Ellie to the primary activity?" Ken said "Yes". Trisha then said "She was found walking on Gordon Ave. and Devin is with her". Ken and I were both beside ourselves, how could this happen? Why did she leave the church? I watched her walk in and knew she was safe. Trisha gave him the address where they were and he immediately went to go get her. He got there and there were quite a few people there with the police. They were very kind and had a coat around her trying to keep her warm. I of course had thought before we left home that she should get a coat on. I would be picking her right up after the activity and so I wasn't worried about it. I also wasn't expecting it to rain.

Silly me didn't think to explain to her how the activities work and where she would be meeting. She walked inside the church and went straight to her classroom. Nobody was there. She said she started to cry. I don't know how long she stayed in the church for. The cultural hall doors I guess were open and she saw the people in there, but she figured because nobody was in her classroom that she needed to go home. That is when she walked out of the church and headed down Gordon - about a block/block and a half. I've tried to pry information out of her, but a lot of the answers she says "I don't know." It must have been pretty scary for her, even though she admits she wasn't scared. This past week in preschool she even learned about firemen and policemen and about stranger danger.

I am grateful for the kind couple with their "older sister" (in Ellie's words) who noticed that she was lost and did everything they could to find her parents. I don't know how much Ellie had told them, if anything at all. It's hard to get her to talk when she is around strangers because she gets really quiet and won't even answer questions. I guess somebody walked down to the church and found a bishopric member who went down to "identify" her. I am grateful that nothing horrible happened to her. I am grateful for the whisperings of the spirit that helps guide us (which I didn't listen to), but will be more aware of the promptings from now on. The primary counselor came by afterward and she was mortified and speechless. She felt horrible. I assured her that I didn't blame anybody for what happened, if anybody, I blamed myself. I think there were lessons to be learned all around and everybody (parents & primary leaders) will all be more vigilant in making sure our kids are safe at the church. I know I've learned my lesson! I think it was good for Ellie to have a hands on experience relating to her safety week at preschool and she'll have a story to tell next week. All is well.

Braces, Braces and More Braces!

2010-03-09T12:46:00.001-07:00

The girls finally got their braces today. They have been anxiously awaiting this moment for 8 weeks now. It was a crazy week with a R.S. Birthday Luau I was in charge of and Book club at my house. Last week the school sent home picture forms for class pictures for that exact same day, but for some reason I wasn't thinking ahead (I had too much on my mind) and thought it was on Monday. I curled the girls hair and they were all set for picture day. They came home and said, pictures aren't until tomorrow. Seriously? I am usually on top of things and I'm a planner, but this slipped right by me. So I had to wait till morning to call the school (20 min. before we had to be at their appt.) to make sure they wouldn't miss their class picture day. Luckily they weren't until right before lunch and after lunch. I was very close to canceling that morning and I would have felt horribly guilty because they could have used those spots for somebody else. I was hoping we could get by one more class picture without braces, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. By the end of the day when I pick them up from school they were complaining about their teeth hurting. I had braces twice, so I remember the pain you get for a few days after they work on them. They chose light green and dark green bands for St. Patrick's Day.

My Life has been changed Forever!

2010-02-16T21:52:00.004-07:00

Approximately 6 years ago I went online to so some research. I wanted to find a something to help me with my sweaty hands/feet/underarms. At the time I just figured that everybody had the same problem as I did...you get nervous, you sweat. That is when I found out that only 1% off the population has what's called Hyperhidrosis - overactive sweat glands. Ever since I can remember I always had this problem. I've altered my life around this disability. I stopped paper scrapbooking because I would get horrible finger prints on my pictures and would get the paper all wet, I avoided holding hymn books with people at church, I would avoid using the same pens as people, I loved holding new babies, but would always hand them back soaking wet. I hated giving/getting change at the store, I avoided shaking hands when meeting people or at church, and the list goes on. I have tried every over the counter deodorant and got immune to all of them. However, there was no cure for my sweaty hands. I found a Dr. in Texas who specializes in a procedure called Micro ETS. He is actually from Utah and went on an LDS mission. That gave me the peace of mind knowing that I could trust his abilities. At the time I found him online, I didn't pursue it. My insurance didn't cover it and I wasn't prepared to pay full price.

Three years ago Ken switched jobs and I started looking into the surgery again. Aetna's bulletin stated that I had to meet certain criteria in order for them to consider covering surgery. I wanted to do it before the end of the year, but I had to make sure that I did everything they wanted me to do. I had met the first 3, but the last one was the only one I was waiting on insurance for to approve so they would cover it. #1 - I had to try the over the counter deodorant, Drysol. #2 - I had to have tried the anxiety pills. My dermatologist was worried about the side effects so he prescribed a cream to be made out of the pills to use on my hands. #3- Botox. I had this done twice under my arms. It lasted about 4-6 months only. #4- Drionic Device. It's an electromagnetic device you put under your arms and it sends electrical currents to deaden the nerves. Cost is about $300. You have to use it for 7 hours (1/2 hour a day) and it would only work for 6 weeks (if it worked at all). I found out after I ordered it in January that Aetna changed their bulletin in September '09 to say Botox could be substituted for the Drionic Device. This news was frustrating as we had met all our deductible and co-insurance from Sophie being in the hospital that some or all of it would have been covered. However, what's done is done. After finding this out I shipped the device back and got a refund and I scheduled the surgery immediately.

Ken has been considering a job change the past month. His new insurance would not cover any of it, so my decision to schedule surgery happened fairly quickly. My mom offered to come with me, but because she would be in Vancouver for the Olympics I felt like I couldn't wait...so I decided to go alone.

The anticipated day had arrived. As I walked out my front door at 5 am to head to the airport I started to get anxiety. I thought to myself "I can't believe I'm doing this and doing it alone". I sat by a woman on the plane who I briefly chatted with about my trip. She asked if she could shake my hand (maybe curious about my sweaty palms), I told her no. :) I don't think people realize the effect it has on those suffering from it.

I arrived Tuesday, February 16th. I had my pre-op appt. and met Dr. Nielson. He was very nice and confident in the changes I would see shortly after surgery. After arriving back at the hotel I walked down the street to get something to eat.

I didn't sleep well that night. I kept waking up every hour thinking I had slept in...I even set 2 alarms. According to the hotel shuttle driver quite a few people have slept in and are late for their surgery. Crazy!! I was downstairs on time at 5:35 am, but we had to wait for another couple to come down. This girl was coming to have it done for a second time to treat her severe facial blushing. Her sympathetic nerve had regenerated and she was experiencing burning and redness after 2 years. After waiting 10 minutes for them, they finally showed up and we got there on time, thank goodness.

After getting hooked up to IV's I waited around for the anesthesiologist to arrive. I was the 1st one to go back. The next thing I remember is the nurses trying to lift my head up to put a pillow under my head. I was completely out of it. 45 minutes later the other girl came out of surgery and she was chatting away and I was still struggling to wake up. I could barely complete a sentence. They took an x-ray (to make sure everything looked good inside) and Dr. Nielson came to shake my hands and I was COMPLETELY dry - even my feet. The results were immediate. For a brief moment while waiting for the anesthesiologist I though how I would kind of miss my worst enemy...but what was I thinking?!? :) I've adjusted my life around this disability for the past 20+ years, I don't think it will take me long to adjust to my new life.

As scary as it was to go alone to Texas (my first real trip by myself anywhere and even riding in Taxi's for the first time), it was a great experience for me and a chance to relax from my lately crazy life. I am grateful for the technology today and that I was able to get this life changing surgery. I wish I could have had done this years ago. I am grateful for my husband for understanding, or trying to understand, my desire to have this done. He was super dad and stayed home with the girls while I headed out for a few days. Lotion and I will now be getting reacquainted. :)

(At my post-op appt. I had a facial done, hence the red face & no make-up.)

12th Anniversary

2010-01-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

Our anniversary was on a Sunday this year...not very exciting, but sometimes that's okay. Caitlin took this picture of us after church. We had a nice dinner and relaxed the rest of the night. Here's a few random things that happened that day.

Ellie sneaking into the granola bars and hiding under the bar-stools to
eat one....as If I wouldn't find her. :)

I attempted to make Molten Lava Cake for dessert - it turned out pretty tasty.

The girls trying to teach Sophie how to walk with the baby doll stroller. She was still a little wobbly, but she did took a few steps. :)

I love my Baths!

2010-01-23T15:56:00.002-07:00

Sophie loves her baths. Her favorite thing to do is dip the washcloth in the water and suck on it. Not sure if it feels good on her teeth or if she's super thirsty. I had just realized that I had never taken picture of her in the bath, so I grabbed the camera...everybody has to have at least one bath picture of when they were a baby. :)

11 Months Old

2010-01-22T23:04:00.001-07:00

Sophie turned 11 months old on Ken's birthday. I almost forgot to take her picture before we left the girls with Grandma and Grandpa Adams. The girls have been working with her to get her to stand on her own and take a couple steps. Sophie hasn't been quite sure about the whole walking thing though...so we'll try again another day. She has learned how to say "milk" in sign language and bark like a dog. She loves her naps and goes down like a little angel....she is such an easy going baby.

12th Anniversary and Ken's 38th Birthday Celebration

2010-01-22T21:35:00.003-07:00

I'm looking a little terrified. :)

We decided to combine Ken's b-day and our anniversary as one date. Ken's parents came over to watch the girls. I surprised Ken by taking him to Speed Street and indoor race track. We didn't realize it would be in a warehouse and we weren't prepared with warm clothes. After giving us all the rules we headed out to the track with another family - a couple kids and quite a few adults. For the next 1/2 hour one of the young kids kept spinning out as he turned corners and didn't know how to control his car, so he would get stuck. The worker guy would then make us all slow down to walking speed while he pulled him out. This happened about every minute, so we didn't get a chance to actually race without stopping. It was a lot of fun, but next time we'll be sure to go with more experienced drivers.

We headed to Corbin's Grill to use our Christmas Gift Certificate from my parents. It wasn't as good as both of us remembered...it was probably the way the steak was cooked that didn't impress us. We dropped by the mall on our way home to pick up my ring Ken got me for Christmas. I was getting re-sized since it was too big. We picked up an ice cream cake at Cold Stone and headed back to share it with the family.

Lunch Time

2010-01-20T16:18:00.002-07:00

The girls were having fun one afternoon with each other and I couldn't resist not getting the camera out. Sophie loves her blanket and she was carrying it around with her. Now that she is getting more mobile she loves to look out the kitchen window and point to things. Ellie of course wanted her picture taken as well. :) My girls are growing too fast.

Dressing Up

2010-01-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

Ellie loves to dress up and the sisters don't mind helping either. You never know what will happen when you get 3 sneaky girls together....#4 will be joining them soon I'm sure. :)

Fits Already?

2010-01-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

Ken sat down to play RockBand one night and Sophie wanted to join in on the fun. She loves to flail the drum sticks around pretending to play. He sat her down and took the drum sticks away so he could continue his game and she did not like it one bit.

A little bit later he was feeding her ice cream...she was in heaven! As soon as he wasn't shoveling it in her face she started throwing her fits again. Sophie is learning pretty fast how to get her own way. It was actually quite funny, but I'm sure it won't be in 10 years. :)

Sorry for the Confusion

2009-12-30T21:22:00.002-07:00

I have to apologize for the random blog posts this past month. I have been WAY behind since before Halloween and it's taken me a while to get back on track. I'm still a month behind, but hopefully I'll be caught up soon. So if you're reading my posts and it doesn't make sense, look up at the date and pretend that you're reading it back then. :) I like to keep things in order of when the pictures were taken for my blog books. Thanks!!

Where the Wild Things Are

2009-12-18T22:28:00.004-07:00

Ken's parents came over tonight to eat take-out Chinese from Imperial Dragon and to hang out with the family. The girls have been dying to watch "Where the Wild Things Are" all week and so with it being our Friday movie night, that is what we did. I tried to get them to change their minds and play some games, but the girls' minds were made up. :)

It was a pretty good movie. It's very interesting in the way it taps into all the emotions of a young child. Ellie was watching it intently. When the credits started rolling we were slowly getting ready to head back up stairs. Ken looked over at her and she had her blanket covering her face and she was crying. Ken asked what was wrong, but she wasn't talking. I scooped her up to hold her on my lap and she buried her face in me and continued to cry. I was asking her questions...I thought (and assumed) that she had gotten hurt somehow, but when I asked her about it she shook her head. I asked her if she was sad about the movie and she nodded her head. She was so distraught over what had happened at the end that she was crying pretty hard.

It had been about 15 minutes....Ralph & Elna just had left and so we headed up stairs to get ready for bed and brush Ellie's teeth. After I was done I continued to quiz her about why she was crying...I was still questioning whether she really was sad and not hurt. She proceeded to tell me how sad she was with the ending and she started to choke up again. Ellie had to stop herself from crying really hard...pausing in between words. It was the cutest and most touching thing to see her have such strong emotions, especially towards a movie...she really knew what was going on. When Ken saw her getting emotional again, he got a little choked up too. Looks like it runs in the family. :)

Craft Project for the Year

2009-12-07T22:12:00.000-07:00

It was about 2 months ago we had a sewing mini-class for Relief Society. We started out easy with Pillowcases - that I can handle! Because of this class I decided I wanted to sew pillow cases for my nieces and nephews that my girls had drawn names for Christmas. While there I had a friend mention how her mom had made pillow cases for each holiday. I thought that was a fabulous idea and wanted to do the same for my girls. So the day after Thanksgiving I headed to JoAnn's fabric and stood in line for over an hour to get my Christmas flannel fabric that was 1/2 off. After calling my friend Kristen I swear 10 times, I got them all complete. :) They aren't perfect, but they turned out cute and my girls loved them. Now onto the next holiday!

Family Party

2009-11-22T17:03:00.001-07:00

Happy 10th Birthday Ashlan!
Happy 9 Month Birthday Sophie!

We had both the Pace and the Adams' families come over to celebrate Ashlan's birthday with us. It turned out to be pretty snowy weather and my mom almost turned around. We're glad everybody (but my sister Brande, who just had her baby) could come. We had a great time eating and visiting. Ashlan helped me make and decorate the cake and I slipped in Sophie's name since it was her 9 month birthday. Ashlan is already planning her 11th birthday with friends. :)

Happy 10th Birthday!

2009-11-18T21:16:00.007-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been 10 years since I was sitting in the old McKay Dee Hospital with our very first baby girl. I remember the overwhelming feeling of trying to figure out how breast-feeding worked, whether or not she was getting enough to eat, how to change diapers and feeling the heavy responsibility on my shoulder of being in charge of this tiny thing. After a few weeks of practice it all seemed so natural to be a mom. Ashlan was such an easy going and calm baby...we were very lucky. She slept through the night at I believe 5 weeks and has gone with the flow ever since. :) I usually don't have to ask her twice to do something for me. She gets ready in the morning for school without me nagging at her and gets going on her after school chores the same way. Ashlan loves to play with Sophie and make her laugh. She doesn't always show emotion towards her sisters, but I know she loves them and would do anything for them. I hope these next 10 years will go a little slower (we all know that won't happen!) :) We love you Ashlan!

She wanted muffins and scrambled eggs for her birthday breakfast. We didn't plan anything grand today since we were having a big family party on Sunday. I took Krispy Kreme Donuts to her classroom for her birthday treat the day before because the 4th grade was having a pow-wow the last 1/2 of the day. I was able to volunteer for a few hours and help them with an Aztec Movie they did in one of their group rotations. They had made delicious scones as well for one of their rotations, so it made it all worth it. Ellie also found a new friend while there which helped keep her occupied.
While Ashlan's group was over at my station watching the movie they all lined up to do each others hair. Then one of the boys joined in at the back of the line. It was so funny! All the teachers in the background were laughing.

At the end of the night we let Ashlan pick a restaurant of her choice. She chose Red Lobster. Of course I went for one of their few NON-sea food dishes. The girls and Ken loved it though and we finished in the nick of time as Sophie started to fuss and the girls were done being quiet. :)

Ashlan's Book Project

2009-11-17T22:36:00.002-07:00

Ashlan read the book "Clementine" and decided that was going to be the book that she would do a project on. She wanted to do a clay sculpture to describe what the book was about. I picked up some modeling clay at Walmart, but I've decided I will never use that stuff again. It's greasy and it doesn't set. We tried to stand the girls up, but the clay was to dense. I think we'll stick to the Crayola stuff next time. :)

She did a great job though and made sure to get in all the details from the book. It seemed like a cute book about a girl who made a hat for her friend. Here is Ashlan's typed out paper on it:

Clementine is a good and nice girl, but a lot of the time she can get into trouble. This book is not all about trouble though, but most of it is. She cuts Margaret’s hair because Margaret told her to then Clementine cuts her own hair. They both get in trouble by their parents and principal. Clementine made a hat to give to Margaret after they cut their hair. On the hat were the things Margaret liked. Some of them were: Pepperoni because it was the only kind of pizza Clementine sees Margaret eat, red doll shoes because Margret makes Clementine put them on the Barbie, a blue jay feather because Margaret’s favorite color is blue, Polka Dottie’s Flea Collar, a lace to Clementine’s party socks, M&M’s because Margaret breathed on Clementine’s, a charm bracelet because Margret always makes “I-wish eyes” at it, pink sparkle nail polish because Margaret tried to borrow it but Clementine caught her, a dead bumble bee I don’t know why, and the rest of the red hair Clementine cut off. Clementine is having a horrible week!

Pro Stair Climber

2009-11-14T23:14:00.004-07:00

Sophie has mastered the stairs. I was downstairs doing the laundry earlier this week and I could hear Sophie whining up in the Family Room. I was quickly switching out loads and needed to get it done or else it would have been forgotten until the next day. I continue to hear Sophie whinning, but it was getting further away. I yelled upstairs to Ashlan, "Where is Sophie?". We both ran to her at the same time and we caught her 1/2 way up the stairs heading to the Kitchen. That was the first time she had ever attempted to climb them. She's figured it out on her own and hasn't slipped and fallen once (knock on wood). I remember plenty of times with the other 3 girls that I would literally dive to save them and catch them as they were heading face down the stairs. I've never bought a gate and I'm hoping I won't have to. :)

Gallbladder Surgery

2009-11-05T20:07:00.001-07:00

This is what I look like with no make-up on. :)

I was scheduled back in March to get my Gallbladder out. After having a horrible attack while pregnant with Sophie and another minor one a week after she was born, I didn't want to go through that again. So I had it scheduled and I was ready to go get it done. My mom, grandma and twin sister have all had theirs out...it was inevitable. The day before the surgery I was talking to a friend and she was telling me her horrible story about getting hers out. She continued to tell me that she was dieing. I was shocked and scared for what could happen to me. She had other medical problems with her heart and liver, but getting her gallbladder out was the worst thing she could have done. I thought and prayed about it for a few hours (I didn't have much time) and decided to cancel my surgery. Part of my reason for canceling it was also because Sophie was still on Oxygen and I was feeling a little overwhelmed at the time. After making that phone call, I felt relieved and at peace.

Since March I would get these achy pains in my stomach. It wasn't horrible, but it was uncomfortable. Then one day in October I was making dinner for a friend and I kept having this pain and feeling like I had to throw-up. It would come and go. So in between when I would feel better I would jump up and work on dinner again, until I had to go lay down again. That is when I decided I would make an appt. to have him look at my gallbladder again. From there we made an appointment the next week and had it removed! :) It was a perfect time as we had reached our deductible and co-insurance back in March with Sophie so it was completely free. I knew I had to get it out eventually...so it was either now for free or later pay $6000.

It was a rough couple of days. Very painful to move, lay down, or sit up. It wasn't too bad if I kept up on my pain killers though. I loved being able to take it easy though and not feeling like I had to "go, go, go". I had just finished watching my niece for 4 days and the break couldn't have come at a better time. :) The funny thing is that my sister had her baby on Friday, October 30th, my mom had a hysterectomy on Monday, Nov. 2nd, and then I had my surgery on Thursday. My other sister decided to go to Disneyland during that week too (we got the hint!) :) So that left none of us available to help each other, but it all worked out in the end.

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T16:52:00.000-06:00

After seeing Brande's baby I rushed back to my parents to eat dinner and get the girls ready for Trick-or-Treating. It was dark by the time I took them outside to take their pictures. Ken took them around a couple blocks and they were done. He tried to convince them to go a little further, but they didn't want to. We had a fun night just hanging out.

Baby Jenna

2009-10-31T11:40:00.000-06:00

Brande was due the first week of November, but she scheduled to get induced the end of October. My mom had to schedule an emergency hysterectomy and they happened to have a cancellation the day Brande originally planned to get induced, Monday November 2nd. So she decided to schedule it on Friday, October 30th. It worked out in the end because Ken was leaving out of town on Monday for business and I was babysitting Kristy's little girl, Sage, while they went to Disneyland. It would have been difficult for me to take all the kids down to see the new baby. We headed down on Halloween in the early afternoon to give us plenty of time to see Brande and Jenna. Mom was feeling a cold coming on so she stayed home while Kristy met me at the hospital. She weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 19 inches long. She was a little bruised from being posterior, but it didn't change her cuteness at all. :)

Annual Carving Pumpkin Night

2009-10-27T20:00:00.000-06:00

This years carving pumpkins was held at our house. Earlier that day Ashlan and I had gone to the dermatologist to get some moles re-removed off my back and foot and shave a little of Ashlan's birthmark off her foot to be biopsied. I had gone in a month earlier to get my 4 moles biopsied and they all came back as Atypical or dysplastic, which meant I needed to get them removed completely. The big freckle on my foot had just appeared maybe 6 years ago, so I was getting a little worried about it. When he originally took the one off my foot, it took me at least 2 weeks to get back to normal walking. It was painful to walk on and so I would walk on my tiptoe. My calf and shin would then get sore because I don't usually use those muscles to walk with. I was a bit nervous going in this time for fear that I would have a hard time walking for 2 weeks again. Thankfully he stitched it up this time and it was a much better recovery. The biopsy came back perfect and I don't have to worry about it anymore.

We had a fun night carving pumpkins. The Watts' decided to paint theirs this year. The Gotti's had theirs pre-carved out which cut down their carving time in half. We decided that is what we will be doing from now on...as much fun it is to get all gooey and pull the guts out, it's too much work with young children. After pictures on the porch we went back inside to eat banana splits.

Our Little Crawler

2009-10-25T23:50:00.000-06:00

Sophie is finally getting the hang of crawling. She did the army crawl for so long and was pretty fast at it. Within a few days of learning how to bring her knees up under her she was crawling everywhere! She's also become our human vacuum by picking up pennies, Polly Pocket shoes and clothes, paper, food, and pins off the floor. Ashlan had left her pin cushion up on the wobbly card table and Sophie figured out how to wiggle it. She knocked down the pin cushion and then proceeded to pull out a pin and eat it. Luckily no damage was done, but it gave us all a good scare!

Popcicles For Everyone

2009-10-25T23:37:00.002-06:00

Sophie has been chewing on everything and drooling everywhere lately, I think her teeth must be coming in. She LOVES otter pops, so I placed some in her mesh chew toy and she was loving it. Of course you give some to the baby the rest of the girls want one. :)

Noelle on her way to the Olympics

2009-10-23T17:43:00.002-06:00

My sister-in-law Noelle started her busy Skeleton season a few weeks ago. She raced last week in Lake Placid, NY for the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton team trials and won both times. She came back home this past weekend to race in Park City for the World Cup. I'm so glad that I was able to make it work to go up and see her race. It was a little chilly, but bearable. I got some good shots of her starting out and also one during the race. We went down to the curve during her 2nd race so we could actually see her in action. They come around the corner at 75 mph that it's hard to know when to actually take the picture.

This past year her sled broke and she was unable to get a new one. So my awesome brother, Janson, decided to build her one. He researched it out and spent many sleepless nights planning and building this sled for Noelle. She raced it for the first time a few weeks ago and it's done amazing on the ice. She took 1st place in Park City and is on her way to compete for the World Cup....and then hopefullythe Olympics. We are excited to see her do so well and to be enjoying her last year of racing. We're cheering for you Noelle! Bring home the GOLD!!

Noelle secured her spot on the World Cup squad by being the fastest woman on the ice once again, 1.49 seconds ahead of the other 10 women. News people were all over after the announcement of making the World Cup.

Eight Months

2009-10-22T16:02:00.002-06:00

It seems like I just posted her 7 month pictures...these months are going by way to fast! Sophie is starting to understand what her knees are used for. She gets up on them, but doesn't quite know how to use them yet. That doesn't mean she isn't fast with her army crawl though, she knows exactly where she wants to go and she's there within seconds. She gets so happy when we come to get her out of her crib. Once you pick her up she buries her face in your shoulder and gives you a little hug. She loves Otter Pops. When she sees her dad with one she puts her lips together and folds them inside her mouth, then makes a high pitched noise that sounds like she has a hoarse voice. Once she found these leaves next to her she wouldn't stop picking them up and putting them in her mouth.

Ashlan passed a cold onto her, so she has been pretty stuffy lately. We stood in line at the Davis Conference Center last week to get the H1N1 vaccine in the cold rain and I wonder if that had anything to do with them getting sick, or even the shot itself. We hope this winter season will be good for us and we can stay clear of any type of flu.

So much attention for little Sophie....

2009-10-19T21:00:00.001-06:00

Every time we try to get the family together for our nightly routine of scripture reading and prayers it's a challenge to get their full attention and participation when Sophie is in the room. They can't concentrate on what is being read while they are trying to make her laugh. Ken tries to quiz the girls 1/2 way through and we know they haven't been listening when they start rattling off answers like "Jesus", "Satan", "Heavenly Father", and "Alma". She's too much of a temptation....who could resist this?

Sophie & Dad

2009-10-18T20:40:00.001-06:00

We were getting ready to do our nightly Book of Mormon reading and Sophie got all excited. I would like to think it was because she likes to hear the stories of our ancient prophets, but it might have just been because she loves to rip things apart and eat them. No worries, she didn't get a hold of this book. :)

Haunted Dinosaur Park

2009-10-17T21:00:00.001-06:00

Back in July I got some free tickets to the Dinosaur Park from my dr's office. I had taken my girls to their appointment, but come to find out they had scheduled me for the wrong day. They felt horrible and so as an apology they offered me 4 passes. I thought it would be fun to go during October when they have their Halloween activities going on. We invited our neighbors, the Lawson's, along with us hoping it would be a fun night out for a decent price. $60 for a pumpkin patch is too much money for only 2 hours. When you have 4 kids nothing is cheap. :)

They advertised trick or treating, games, bounce house, costume contest and other fun activities. However, it was a little disappointing. For one they wouldn't accept my free passes because they were the "old" logo and they switched 3 years ago. Second, they just had a bunch of vendors there like Winder Dairy, Pampered Chef, Comcast, Scentsy, Applebees etc. advertising with a bucket of candy for the kids. Third, they only had 1 game and no bounce house. As we headed up the path a guy in black was standing there with a bucket. We were about to walk right by him when I finally asked him if he was handing out candy. The costume contest was very unorganized and nobody seemed to know what they were doing. In my opinion (and Ken's) it wasn't worth the money we paid to get in. BUT, the kids seemed to have fun with their friends and that's all that mattered.

Monkey Ears

2009-10-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

Ellie was having fun with Sophie one day, I don't think she was enjoying it though. :)

My Little Sophie Bug

2009-09-29T22:29:00.000-06:00

Here are a few things she is doing or that has happened at 7 months:

Rolling over everywhere!
Loves to be held.
Loves her cereal.
Loves to laugh - her sisters thoroughly enjoy making her laugh.
Loves to be entertained.
Likes to know what's going on.
Always chewing on fingers or anything within reach.
No teeth yet.
We finally set up her crib in Caitlin's room, now she has more room to roll around.
Doing the army crawl everywhere --I found her holding onto my bed sheets upside down after putting her in the middle of my bed.
Found her climbing out of her bouncy chair, another close call.
Big sister Ellie wanting to help Sophie while mom was making dinner. Decides to unbuckle her from her highchair where she falls out on her head. Luckily after taking her to the dr. she checked out fine.
Puts up with all the girls mauling her every minute of everyday.
Is her mom's little angel!

A new Do....Again!

2009-09-29T11:05:00.002-06:00

I chopped my hair again! I wasn't planning on going this short though, just darker with a trim. However, while I was waiting I noticed a girl that had just cut off a bunch of her hair and it was adorable. Being so indecisive, I sat there debating back and forth on what I should do but I finally after getting advice from my 9 year old I said "Let's do it!". I was worried that I wouldn't be able to put it in the ponytail, but in the end I decided I needed to be done with ponytails for a while. I should have done this to begin with back in June so I could have donated it, but sometimes it's easier to take baby steps. Thanks Dawn for always doing such a great job and being so patient with me...I love it!

Mother-Daughter Activity

2009-09-25T20:49:00.001-06:00

We had so much fun at the Mother-Daughter Activities Day Activity. They provided a yummy chicken dutch oven dinner for us. Afterward we played "How well do you know your Daughter/Mom". We tried to guess what the other one likes, dislikes or how they would answer. We didn't do so well. I think mostly because I'm so indecisive about things that I didn't even know what my favorite movie or food was. :) Seriously, I'm that bad! Afterward we split into groups and we were given a theme of what we were suppose create with tissue paper. We got "Church Attire". It was harder than it looks! We then had a fashion show with all the girls modeling their modest clothing designs and there were some very creative ideas. Ashlan was a little hesitant at first, but then gave in to the pressure. We had a great night out!

Picnic in Lehi with Old Friends

2009-09-22T20:42:00.002-06:00

We grew up with the Warners doing family vacations and camping trips. We were all about the same age, give or take a year. We all have families of our own now and it seems as if the only time we get together is for a wedding or baby shower. We all happened to be in town at the same time, so we planned a little outing at the park with our kids. It was fun catching up on our busy lives and seeing all the cute kids running around playing together. We headed to Brande's new house in Eagle Mountain afterward to see it's cuteness. I then went to pick up my Camp Williams case lot food that we do every year from Kristy's house. IKEA was then calling my name, so we took our girls there to eat dinner and shop for a dresser for Ashlan's room. I'm thinking it's a good thing I live at least 45 min. away, I might be shopping there more than I should be, I LOVE that place!

So sleepy....

2009-09-18T22:39:00.000-06:00

Sophie was being very ornery and upset on this particular night. She wouldn't lay down in her bed, she just wanted to be held. She didn't get a very good afternoon nap and that just made it 10 x's worse. So Ken decided to sit down at the piano and mess around with some chords. A few minutes later he looks down at her and she is completely zonked out. She just wanted to be played a lullaby. :)

Nap Time Already?

2009-09-18T22:29:00.005-06:00

I had just given Sophie a bath and I needed to quickly give Ellie one. I decided I would lay her on my bed while I quickly finished up with big sister. I gave her her soft snuggly blanket and a few minutes later when I peeked in on her she was fast asleep....and it was only 8:45 am!

School Carnival

2009-09-18T22:21:00.000-06:00

I didn't take many pictures on this night. I need to be better at getting my camera out for these little events. The girls had fun running around playing games with their friends and teasing boys. Ashlan and Bailey's goal I think for the night was to drive Jared and Isaac crazy and I'm pretty sure they succeeded. :)

I volunteered for the last hour of the night, which I was happy to do since they were supportive of the carnival that I was in charge of a couple years ago. The highlight of the night, well maybe the most memorable part, was as we were eating our pizza, pop and cookie dinner I took a bite of my blue star cookie and I got this unbelievably bitter taste in my mouth and immediately spit it out. I looked on the bottom and it was covered in mold. I think whoever picked up the donated cookies kept them in their car for far too long. I even went back to warn them & to switch it out, but got another moldy cookie. YUCK!

Labor Day 2009

2009-09-17T22:34:00.001-06:00

We had a busy day this Labor Day! We usually don't have or make major plans to do anything exciting on these Monday holidays..it's just nice to have a 3 day weekend. However, this time Jen, Tami and I decided to plan a BBQ with the families since it had been a couple months. In the end we decided to go the easy route and just take lunches to the park. The kids had fun playing and running through the forest at the Castle Park in Kaysville. Right when we were packing up to leave, Ashlan decided to try and find the rest of the kids when she fell down a trail and into a small tree...her knees got banged up and were bleeding pretty badly. Thanks to Tami who is always prepared with her trusty first aid kit...you think I would learn by now. :) Ashlan will have some nice big scars.

After we got back from the park the girls ran to our next door neighbors house and made stepping stones. They had called us over the day before to pick some raspberries, because they promised my girls once they were ripe they could come over and pick some. While over there Caitlin spotted their stepping stones they had made and said "Could you help us make some for us?" I'm still trying to teach my kids manners...please tell me they catch on before they move out of the house! They were very sweet and said the girls could come over the next day (Labor Day) because they had some cement work to do and would need to use up the extra cement. They turned out super cute and they were so easy to do. We are blessed to have such great neighbors!

Caitlin also had her first piano lesson that afternoon...it was a group lesson and we didn't want to miss it. She seems to like it so far! Afterward we headed up to South Ogden to Ken's parents who had arranged a get-together with his brothers. We had a tasty BBQ dinner with them. The girls enjoyed playing with John's guinea pigs and practicing their blowing skills with bubbles. We also had been invited the night before to go swimming at a friend's house who had moved away, but unfortunately we had to re-schedule it for later in the week when our schedules weren't so crazy. It worked out in the end though since the weather was perfect all week. Even though it was a crazy day with lots to do, we enjoyed spending time together as a family.

Ellie's 1st Day of Preschool

2009-09-15T22:33:00.000-06:00

I wasn't planning on putting Ellie in preschool this year. I didn't know where to enroll her and I figured she would be fine without it, plus I was happy to have to not pay $80/month. Well, I got a flier on my door back in August advertising for a preschool that was just around the corner from me and it was fairly cheap. I'm glad I signed her up because she loves it! She didn't hesitate for one second when I let her out on the first day, she ran up to the porch and sat on the bench with the rest of the kids. I waved to her as I drove off and could tell she was watching me carefully as she waved back. When I picked her up she told me that her teacher didn't give her any homework in her backpack. She'll learn in the next few years that homework is a not such a fun thing. :)

Miss Ashlan: Star of the Week

2009-09-14T22:37:00.007-06:00

Ashlan was picked to be the "Star of the Week" the second week of school. We picked out some pictures and printed out clip-art to display the things that she likes. Some things she chose are: Oreos, iCarly, Shrimp (taking after he dad!), dogs, spaghetti, the colors blue, pink and purple, and she likes to read. She also loves her cousins, to swim and handstands. Her teacher, Mrs. Bagley, organizes something fun for the "Star of the Week" to do everyday during that week . The 1st day Ashlan brought her poster. The 2nd day she brought her favorite book to be read in class, Ashlan chose a cute book called "Falling for Rapunzel". The 3rd day Ken & I were to send a letter or a poem telling about Ashlan for the teacher to read in class. The 4th day she got to pick a friend, Danielle, to eat lunch with in the classroom and the 5th day the rest of the students wrote little notes to Ashlan telling what they like about her. I decided to write a poem the night before for her to take to school (yes I know, procrastination). I started probably at 8:30 pm and finished around I think 11:30. Poems are time consuming and they definitely aren't my specialty, but I enjoy doing them when I have to. To try to make it easier I look online at a rhyming dictionary (love the internet!) to find rhyming words and construct a sentence with that word...I think I walked away with a headache after that. :) I asked Ashlan if she was embarrassed by the poem, but she said "no". She didn't say much about it besides that she didn't like to play "hide & seek". :) You do what you can with the words you've got!

Ashlan was born as our very first child.
She was beautiful, sweet, quiet and mild.
Being the only grandchild on either side,
She got all the attention when she cried.

Being honest and kind is what makes her unique,
She has an imagination and enjoys playing hide & seek.
Ashlan will do anything to go play with her friends,
She also does flips, handstand and tumbles without end.

Ashlan is somebody you can always count on.
She looks after her 3 sisters when called upon.
She does her jobs and homework without complaint,
Ashlan is surely our little saint.

Yes, Ashlan is special as you can see
There's no doubt that we love her to the highest degree.
For she is not just the star in class, so to speak
She's a star in our eyes everyday of the week!

Nummy Rice Cereal!

2009-09-13T11:56:00.000-06:00

I was planning on starting Sophie on her rice cereal the day of her 6 month well child check. However, she caught Ellie's virus and had a stuffy nose and a sore throat so the Dr. recommended that we wait until she was feeling better. A few days later she caught the 2nd half of the virus, which was throwing up and diarrhea. We all got a strain of the virus varying in severity, but Ken, Ellie and Sophie were the only ones who caught the second part of that yucky thing, thank goodness. It was not fun!

We started Sophie's cereal about a week later and she LOVED it! I think I ended up giving her 2 extra helpings because she was not happy that I had stopped feeding her. She acted like I hadn't fed her in 6 months! She gobbled it up and enjoyed it thoroughly. :)

"I've found my voice!"

2009-09-12T22:00:00.002-06:00

It was dinner time and Sophie was hungry. She didn't want to wait, she wanted it NOW! So while I was getting her cereal ready she started doing this screaming thing. She would shut her eyes tight, do an angry scream, stop for a few seconds and then she would start back up again. She had the whole family laughing at her. It was hilarious!

Kids 1K Fun Run/Walk

2009-09-12T21:35:00.001-06:00

Our pediatric office was having a fund raiser for the Intermountain Pediatric Clinic's Reach out and Read program through which every child receives a free book at their Well Child check. I thought it was a great way to donate our money towards this great cause, show the girls the importance of exercise and a fun activity for our family to do...even though it required us to get up, ready, and out the door by 9:00 on a Saturday morning. :) It was held at Layton Commons Park (the Duck Park as we like to call it) and it was held right after the Layton Classics awards ceremony. The 1K run was pretty much around the perimeter of the park, but our girls did great. I was trying to keep up with Ellie the whole time as she did not stop once. Ashlan and Caitlin stayed up front and beat all of us! As we went through the finish line they handed out little medals for the kids. It was very cute.

They had little booths of face painting, pottery, and other fun things for the kids. It was great to see our Dr. and nurses there and to realize that they have a social life too. :) We walked around to the other side of the park where they had the rest of the fair booths and activities, but decided we were too cheap and headed home.

Caitlin's Surgery

2009-09-11T22:34:00.010-06:00

Right before school started I took all the girls to the dentist to get their teeth cleaned. While there the dentist looked at Caitlin's x-rays and reminded me (because I forget things easily) that she had an extra tooth up in the gums blocking the permanent tooth. Her right front tooth had fallen out and had been replaced by the permanent one quite a while ago. Her left baby tooth hadn't fallen out yet because the permanent couldn't come down with that extra tooth in the way. So the dentist suggested that we take her to an oral surgeon soon to get it removed so we can make room for her tooth to make its way down.

We went and saw the oral surgeon, Dr. Mark Newey, in Clearfield. They were all really nice and assured Caitlin that it would be fast and painless. He pointed out that her baby tooth was already dead. They could tell that after asking all her questions that she was still nervous about the needle and how she was going to get put to sleep. So they brought in everything to show her exactly what they would do on surgery day. I scheduled it for the next Tuesday (first week of school) so we could get it over with. Caitlin looked over at me and gave me a thumbs up, she agreed that she wanted to get it over with. :)

Everyday she would ask when she was going to get her teeth out. She seemed a little excited, but I knew things would change rapidly the day of surgery. Our appt. was at 10:30, but then they pushed it back to 11:00 am. She couldn't eat anything, so Caitlin wasn't too happy in the morning when she REALLY wanted a bowl of cereal. On the way there she told me that while putting her shoes on in her room she said a prayer. I was so proud of her for thinking of it all on her own. If I would have been thinking I would have had Ken give her a priesthood blessing too.

The minute we pulled up in the parking lot she started to get all antsy. We got out of the car and she wanted me to hold her hand. We were at the reception desk and she started crying, she knew there was no turning back. We got called back shortly after and walked back to one of the surgery rooms. She soon became inconsolable. These pictures were taken right before they hooked her all up. The second picture is me trying to get her to smile and to show how brave she was. It didn't last more than 5 seconds. :)
They got things moving pretty fast. They got her all hooked up to watch and listen to her heart, watch her breathing, and pulse. They were very efficient. Dr. Newey came in to put the needle in and she freaked out. Luckily it was in fairly fast and she was on her way to sleep. As a parent, it kind of makes you worried when one minute your child is active (throwing fits and crying) and the next totally out. It's crazy what medicine can do! I had total confidence in the Dr. though and I knew she was in good hands. Once she was out they took me out to the waiting room. Part of me was hoping they'd forget I was there and let me stay back there with her, but I knew it wouldn't be pretty. They called me back about 45 minutes later and they were all done, she was awake and laughing. I pulled the car around to the side of the building through the recovery room. She was sitting in the chair, with a blanket and gauze smooshed between her teeth. I asked "So was it as bad as you thought?" And of course the answer was "No".Her recovery wasn't too bad. We kept up on the Tylenol for a couple days and she was great for the most part. A couple days after surgery I noticed her top lip was really swollen...it reminded me of the characters in who-ville in the movie "Horton Hears a Who!" Caitlin lifted up her lip to show me that she found stitches up inside her top lip too. I then remembered they mentioned they would have to cut the inside top lip so they could see the whole jaw line. She toughed it out though and I'm proud of her for being as brave as much as she could. Now we just hope the tooth comes down on it's own, if not then they will have to put a chain (brace) to help it come down.

The next day I was getting ready to take Caitlin to school late and there was a delivery at our door. I looked out the window and it was a flower truck bringing flowers for Caitlin from her Dr. and the staff. I thought "When have we ever gotten flowers from a Dr. before? NEVER!" It had a sweet note wishing her a quick recovery. I would highly recommend them to anybody needing oral surgery of any kind. They were kind, caring, informative, personable and Caitlin thought they were "So Nice!" with the way the nurse gave her a blanket and then of course the flowers.

Caitlin on day 3

Playtime at Bedtime

2009-09-05T20:00:00.004-06:00

We were trying to get the kids ready for bed when they saw an opportunity to play with Sophie. The girls are always looking for reasons to stay up late and this is the top one...holding or playing with the baby. Sophie LOVED playing with this ball. She was all over it....trying to eat it and having fun with the girls. She is a little over 6 months old and this is right before she became super active. All of a sudden (within a weeks time) she went from holding still being a good little baby to wanting to eat everything in site, playing with the remotes (knowing that she wants that over a toy) and learning how to army crawl.

{ First Day of School }

2009-09-03T22:00:00.000-06:00

This is Ashlan's first day of 4th Grade. It's hard to believe I have a 4th grader. She's getting so grown-up and mature, I won't know what to do with her in a couple years. I think I'm a pretty good mom to babies and toddlers, but when they start talking back and making their own choices is when I have a harder time. I'm excited for Ashlan to have the teacher she does. She just got married last summer, so she is quite young. However, it's her 5th year teaching and I've heard she's amazing!

Caitlin's First day of 2nd grade. She is LOVING school already and she too has a great teacher. She is super young as well, has been married for a few years, and is excellent with the kids. She graduated from BYU and for some reason that brings comfort to my soul. I think it's knowing that we have some sort of a connection. :) Caitlin seems to be getting along with the kids in her class, which I am thrilled about. We had a rough year last year with personality conflicts within the classroom and I'm surprised the teacher didn't walk out and quit. She was aware of those and requested all these kids be split up between the five 2nd grade classes. I think she has already made some new "good" friends, which makes me happy for her. It's always hard when your child comes home and says they don't have any friends and nobody wants to play with them. We've tried to work out solutions to her problems and she now seems to have found someone that wants to play. I can tell it's going to be a great year!

Our school had a "Back to School" morning instead of night. It seemed to work out pretty good. Of course we didn't plan to get there before everybody else did and had to search for a place to park. We were a titch late. I'm almost sure they were embarrassed with me taking pictures of them with a whole classroom full of kids....you can't NOT document their first day of school. They were good sports.

Swimming Lessons

2009-09-02T22:00:00.000-06:00

I was a little late signing the girls up for swimming lessons this year. If you're not on top of it then the good times get filled up within a few days of being posted. They had openings for the week before school started and it only ran for one week, it was cheaper too. I didn't mind so much since the 2 week thing goes a little long for me. I suppose the only bad part about it would be the fact that they didn't get that extra week to master the skills they were being taught. Ashlan and Caitlin have learned to jump off the diving board and they are becoming quite good at it. They got free time the last 10 minutes on the last day and so Caitlin headed to the diving-board. She couldn't get enough of it until I told her she could go down the big slide. Of course the line was long and they only were able to go down once. It's been great living so close to the pool and being able to take advantage of their summer swim lessons each year. I never learned to swim and so it's high on my priority list for them to learn. They've seemed to enjoy it more each year and I don't hear much complaining about it like I used to.

Elna's Birthday

2009-09-01T23:52:00.000-06:00

We had the family over for dinner a couple weeks ago to celebrate Elna's birthday. It happened to be on a Sunday so there isn't much else to do on a Sunday besides dinner. :) I made Cafe Rio Pork Salad and a Lemon cake for the birthday treat. We had a good visit and relaxed the rest of the night.

24th of July

2009-08-31T23:45:00.005-06:00

We headed up to South Ogden to Ken's parents to celebrate the 24th. We had a BBQ and then walked over to the new splash pad. The girls had a lot of fun in the water, but the rest of us that weren't getting wet were roasting. Afterward we played some games out back and then got our few puny fireworks out when it got dark. :) The girls didn't care what they looked like as long as we were able to light them.

Bike Parade

2009-08-24T10:00:00.001-06:00

Our primary planned a bike parade for all the kids. My girls were especially excited to decorate their bikes. It took us all day to decorate them, but I think they turned out cute. We made flashy monogram signs with glitter for Ashlan and Caitlin. We stuck Elmo onto Ellie's bike and painted an "E" for Ellie (and Elmo) on hers. It turned out to be a pretty windy night to do it, but the kids still had a blast.

How I'm wishing the time would slow down....

2009-08-24T10:00:00.000-06:00

5 Months

6 Months

My little munchkin turned 5 months in July and 6 months on Saturday. She is getting more steady at sitting up on her own, but not quite yet. She reaches for everything and tries to stick it in her mouth. She drools like crazy, but I can't see any teeth coming in yet. All of my girls were early with their teeth, but I'm thankful she hasn't popped any out yet. I LOVE toothless baby smiles. :) Her sisters love to make her laugh and she loves to be entertained. She is still sleeping in the bassinet in our room (I know I know....I'm horrible), but we will be getting the crib out of storage this weekend and rearranging the girls rooms. It's just so convenient to have her close by to feed her during the night or to make sure she doesn't gag on her spit-up since she has horrible reflux. Plus I can make sure the girls don't come in and bother her, which isn't always successful. She is the best baby ever and I adore every minute with her!

Dragon Suit

2009-08-23T11:06:00.002-06:00

This morning after giving Ellie a bath we found a cute pink jogging suit to put on her, after all it was a perfect day to be bundled up in something warm. She was complaining that the little gems sewn into the top were bugging her. I assured her that if she let it go and ignored it then it would stop scratching her. About 15 minutes later after I had gotten out of the shower she was knocking on the bathroom door. I peeked out and she had her shirt off and said "I don't want to wear my Dragon Suit anymore". I wasn't sure if I heard her right, so I said "What did you say?". Sure enough, her Dragon suit was bugging her and she was done with it. :)

Annual Pace Family Reunion

2009-08-11T23:10:00.005-06:00

It was time for our annual Pace Family Reunion in Ophir, UT. Everybody brings up their trailers, tents, 4-wheelers, and lots of goodies. For the past 5 years or so we've gotten up early Saturday morning and made a day trip and came home. However, this year I've been feeling like a boring mom who hasn't done much with my children this summer...so I was determined to take them camping for a few days to let them experience what camping is all about. It took a little more packing because of the baby (oh wait, maybe not since I forgot to bring extra clothes for her). You can only remember so much and when you're packing for 6 people it's hard to remember who you've packed for. :)

I think the girls had a lot of fun running around with their cousins and getting dirty. The first night we roasted marshmallows (forgot the Starbursts Jennie!) and enjoyed visiting with relatives. The next day we started our usual horse shoe competition, the boys went 4-wheeling and shooting, and the kids did quite a few crafts and smashed a pinata. There is an old cemetery up on a hill that some of the uncles get a kick out of scaring the kids. This year my BIL dressed up as a gorilla and hid behind some trees as ghost stories were told. I wasn't able to go, but it sounds like it was a success as he jumped out behind the trees and scared all the teenagers.

This year however was especially hard for our family. A couple days before the reunion we had a dear friend and long time home teacher of my parents get really sick. They found out that he had about 8 blood clots in his stomach and his intestines were not working. Saturday, while up at the reunion, they decided to let him go as things weren't looking good. It was just so shocking and surreal that this was actually happening to the most loving, likable, and humble guy that we knew. I know the Lord has great plans for him because of how fast he went, how young he was (55) and the spiritual giant that he was. I pray their family will find comfort during this difficult time.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

2009-08-11T22:48:00.004-06:00

Like everybody else we jumped at the opportunity to take our girls to another temple open house. It's great that they make it so accommodating...from getting your tickets last minute, giving exact directions to and from temple, close up parking, and the delicious cookies afterward. :) We went with our friends, The Watts, and we had a wonderful experience. It was a perfect opportunity to answer our girls questions about what we do in the temple. We are blessed to be near so many temples and we're going to try to make it a goal to go every month with our ward (now that they are renewed - sorry Allison & Bryan!). We are looking forward to participating in the dedication in a few weeks...Ashlan is especially excited. We've figured out babysitting arrangements with Ralph & Elna so we can all have a chance to be part of it. :) I appreciate them always being so willing to help out when we need them.

Slippin' and a Slidin'

2009-07-23T18:47:00.001-06:00

We had some neighbor kids come over last week to have some fun on the Slip 'n Slide. We put the slip 'n slide at the end of our swing set slide, put a hose on the slide and they slipped on down. It looks a little uncomfortable for me, but the kids don't seem to mind. I grabbed my camera while I had a few minutes and took some fun pictures. After a while they just started showing off. :)

Family Swim Party

2009-07-22T17:14:00.000-06:00

We rarely get together to see our cousins on my mom's side -- maybe once or twice a year tops. So my mom and Aunt Valerie planned a swimming day with all of us cousins and our kids over at my parents pool. We counted about 17 kids 9 adults...quite a crowd! We had snowies, cinnamon rolls and lots of fun. I think the kids had a blast...it wore us parents out though. :)

Rockband Competition

2009-07-21T20:59:00.004-06:00

Ken was asked by a couple of his friends if he would play the drums for a Market Star competition. He couldn't compete because he wasn't part of the company, but they did an opening number to start it off. They announced that Van Halen had flown all the way to Utah to perform and that is when they came running out. They rocked out to Hot for Teacher and they were quite entertaining.

I am not sure what to think!

2009-07-17T00:15:00.003-06:00

Ken was looking out through our back door tonight and saw something unbelievable. No, unfortunately it wasn't a pretty sunset. He saw FIVE goats (horns and all) in our neighbors backyard. I didn't believe it until I saw it. Maybe somebody can help me understand why somebody would want 5 BIG goats hanging out in their TINY backyard. I wouldn't mind so much if I was living out in the country with wide open spaces, but in the city where our houses almost touch? I'm thoroughly confused, really.

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-12T20:31:00.004-06:00

We have our yearly tradition with our friends of hitting the Clearfield Parade. We've found a perfect spot a few years back right at the beginning of the parade where we can park somewhat easily (I think people are catching on). Then right when we see the end coming we all hop in our cars and rush off to breakfast at Village Inn before the crowds start. We've worked it out pretty well! The kids had a great time and we were thrown plenty of candy to last us a couple weeks. The weather was overcast and it was perfect! We're usually roasting in the sun by the time the parade is done, but not this year.

We headed to Orem to celebrate with my family. We swam, had a BBQ, played Rock Band, and finished the night off with fireworks. My parents ward gathers in the church parking lot behind them where everybody can watch each others fireworks being set off. It got pretty windy and we were worried about all the sparks flying towards us, but it blew over pretty quickly. Both of my camera batteries died today...luckily I was at least able to get a few at fireworks.
This picture of Ken and Sophie I took right before my camera died....I had to laugh at Sophie's face, I have no clue what she was doing. It looks like her lip is all deformed. :)

I forget...

2009-07-10T23:35:00.006-06:00

What Ellie used to look like when she was a baby. I was going back through some pictures for my blog book I am working on and I found this baby picture of Ellie at 4 months old. They could be twins! I remember wanting to snuggle and kiss Ellie all day long because she was the happiest and chubbiest baby, I couldn't get enough of her. I feel the same way about Sophie...she is so cuddly, I am trying to enjoy every minute with her. Time is going by way too fast.

Sophie on her 4 Month Birthday

Sophie definitely has some funny faces that she pulls. She's quick to give a smile, but not so quick to give laughs. It's hard to get her to laugh really hard. She'll do little squeals, but we really have to try hard to make her laugh really loud. She has learned to suck on her 2 front fingers...those are her fingers by choice if her binky isn't available. She goes down for naps and bed so easily. I wrap her up and lay her in her bed and she goes right to sleep. Sophie loves to cuddle with her blankets, she needs a blanket usually to go to sleep...and you wonder why all our girls have been attached to their blankies from day one. She sleeps at least 9 hours each night, but that doesn't mean that mom gets that much sleep. :) It's so hard for me to go to bed once the kids are asleep...it's my peace and quite time and I try to make it last as long as possible. The night just goes by too fast! Her sisters all adore her. Sophie can't be in the room without all 3 girls getting on top of her trying to make her laugh/smile or to give her hugs and kisses. She's rolled over a few times, not quite a pro yet since I haven't been as good to lay her down to practice. I know once I lay her down on the floor she'll be mauled.

Sophie fell asleep the other day like this, I thought it was so cute.

She is still spitting up quite bit, even with her medicines. I took her and Ellie to the Dr. last week because Ellie's ear was hurting and Sophie was choking on her spit and gasping for air. The Dr. gave me a prescription for Zantac to see if that would help the fussiness and the spitting up. So now she is taking Prevacid and Zantac for spitting up and Bactrim (anti-biotic) to make sure she doesn't get another infection. I still suction her about every other day...she gets all stuffy and she can't breathe very well while she's eating. It's nice to still have the high powered suction machine at our house...I'm sure they'll be calling for it soon. :)

Ellie has another ear infection in both ears...it seems like she gets it every few months. Her last one was in February. I think she has a really high pain tolerance because she only complained one night that it hurt and I could tell that it was bothering her. Back in February she didn't pass her well child hearing test so when the Dr. looked in her ears she said she had an ear infection. We'll see if this round of medicine works...we may end up getting tubes in her ears if we can't keep them clear.

Palm Springs

2009-07-06T00:04:00.000-06:00

We had a great vacation a couple weeks ago! My parents own a Marriott time share down there and we try to make it at least every 2-3 years. Ellie was Sophie's age the last time we were there.

Ken was really hoping we could take his car on our trip. It definitely wasn't my first choice of the 2 vehicles to drive, but I tried to make it work out this ONE time only. :) My sister was kind enough to take Ashlan with her so she could have somebody help with her girls. However, in order to meet them to switch off we had to drive both vehicles down to Orem since we all couldn't fit into his car. After loading up we situated the other 3 girls in the back seat of his car and headed off. The drive there wasn't too bad. Sophie did amazingly well and slept pretty much the whole way. It was hard keeping Ellie and Caitlin's hands off of her though being so close quarters, it was just too tempting for them. We made a stop in Paragonah at my Grandma's house, St. George to eat at In-N-Out, and then on to Vegas to stay the night.

After filling up on the breakfast buffet the next morning we were on our way! We went the back way to avoid rush hour traffic. Half way there we stopped off at some rock formations and let the kids get out and play -- yes, that included the guys practicing Parkour. It took us another 5+ hours from Vegas to get to our destination. I would have to say that it didn't take as long as I thought it would, but you're talking to the one in the passenger seat enjoying her book.

The weather was perfect. In past trips we've hit 110 degrees -- smoldering heat! It was breezy most of the time with a few clouds. I think the last day it hit 110, but thankfully we were on our way home. We were able to swim quite a few times and enjoy the warm weather we haven't been lucky to have here in Utah this Summer. My parents were able to get 3 condos with 3 lock-offs (separate rooms) so we were all able to have our own space and privacy, yet able to get together for meals easily. It worked out perfect. They were all located on the golf course, so at night after we were sure there weren't anymore balls flying we let the kids run out and play. We played tag, frisbee, glow in the dark frisbee and the kids found the sand pit to rake and play in. A couple times some of us even got caught in the sprinklers that came on. Us girls were able to head over to the Spa at the Hotel (the one they filmed "Saved By the Bell" movie at) for free. It was relaxing to lay by the pool without kids tugging at you.

We had a beautiful view in the backyard, so we decided to take some family pictures one night.

One of the days we made a trip to the Living Desert Zoo. I think it was one of the hottest days we were there (or so it seemed) and we were all roasting by the time we were done. We had fun seeing all the different types of desert animals, a few being: Bighorn Sheep, Tortoises, Wolves, Warthog, Camels, etc. We headed to the Cheesecake Factory afterward for lunch. Let's just say 12 adults and 10 kids isn't the easiest to get seated and served. I always wonder what people think when we all walk into a room. :) Of course you can't go to the Cheesecake factory without getting a slice of it....so my mom was kind enough to get a delicious strawberry cheesecake for us to share.

Picture taken outside of an LDS church

It was a great week, but as usual it went by too fast. It seemed like we just got there and unpacked when it was time to leave. The morning we were checking out Caitlin got a headache and as soon as she got in Ken's car she threw-up. She did it one more time at the gas station and then she was okay, thank goodness. Traveling is stressful as it is with a 4 month old, but it gets more so when you have a sick child. Unsure of what was causing her to get sick I decided to make an appt. for her when we got home since that was the 2nd time in 1 1/2 weeks time she got a headache with nausea.

3 cars traveled to Vegas again to spend the night (everybody with kids) and the other 2 cars went on to grandma's house in Paragonah. We went shopping at the outlets in Vegas and stocked up on some great deals (I guess the guys wouldn't call it a great deal on their part while they stood around waiting for us). The next day was mine, my sister Brande, AND my other sister's husband, Troy's, Birthday. We figured we'd be traveling all day so we decided to get a decent breakfast before our long drive, so we stopped at IHOP. I am glad we did because we didn't stop anywhere else that day.

Caitlin and Ellie were tired of sitting by each other -- they couldn't leave each other alone. We pulled off a couple times with some threats, but they didn't seem to work. One of those Ken pulled off some Ranch exit in southern Utah. He told Ellie to get out and start walking home (she was being the instigater and wouldn't leave her sister alone). She happily got out of the car and started walking. He was trying to make it sound like a bad deal for her that she would be left behind and would have to find her way home by riding with strangers, but she assumed she could go find a "nice" person to ride with. After a few minutes he said "Climb back in the car and ride with us" but she refused. We convinced her that her family loved her more and she would be safe with us. She definitely called his bluff this time. :) We made it home around 10 pm, just in time for bed. I guess I can't complain about not doing anything fun for my birthday...it was just a long day in the car.

My Little Angel

2009-06-29T14:14:00.000-06:00

Sophie is such a great baby! It's amazing how fast her moods change, well I guess not, she's a girl. :) One minute she is happy, the next she starts to get a little fussy as she decides she is getting tired and then all of a sudden she's fast asleep. It all happens within 5 minutes or less. :)

On Tuesday, June 9th we headed up to McKay Dee Hospital to have her tests done for her UTI. They did the ultrasound on her Kidneys first and then they took us back to do the VCUG test. I was prepared to have them sedate her to do the test, but the dr. said that because she is so little they wanted to try it without first. I was happy that they didn't have to put her under for a fairly quick test. They instructed me to not feed her past a certain time...so by the time we went in for the test, she was getting a little hungry. They grabbed a couple bottles of Pedialyte for her and to my amazement she chugged them both down during the course of the test. It worked out perfectly because she sat there so still just drinking away, not paying attention to what was happening. They put a catheter in her and then filled her bladder up with contrast material. They took xray pictures of her bladder as she peed it out. They were looking to see if the urine backs up (refluxes) from the bladder to the ureters, and eventually the kidneys...which causes infection (UTI). It took no more than maybe 15 minutes to do the actual test and then we were done. She was a trooper!

The test results showed that her kidneys looked good. Her dr. did say that she does have vesicoureteral reflux. They grade them on Level 1 to Level 5, with 5 being the worst. Thankfully Sophie is only at a Level 1. My dr. recommended that we go see a urologist at Primary Children's. She mentioned that there are studies going around that when there is a single umbilical artery during pregnancy that they are more pron to Urinary Tract Infections. Interesting. So she is on an antibiotic for a while to keep her from getting another infection and we'll see if she outgrows it or what will need to be done.

A New Do!

2009-06-28T16:53:00.000-06:00

I made my hair appt. 2 weeks in advance. For 2 weeks I debated whether I wanted to cut my hair off. I went back and forth and was unsure of how I wanted to get it done. Of course I am the most indecisive person ever so those of you who know me that shouldn't surprise you. Right before I left I decided I wasn't going to cut it. I liked my long hair and wasn't ready to chop it. Of course after getting there I changed my mind (for the 100th time). I got it thinned a TON and it is so much lighter - perfect for the summer! I didn't dare go any shorter, maybe when I lose a few pounds. :)

Last Day of School

2009-06-27T16:41:00.000-06:00

It's crazy how fast time flew this past school year. We had such amazing teachers, I was probably more sad about the last day of school than my girls. I almost got teary-eyed thinking about it. I'm sure both teachers were relieved to have a much needed break. Especially Caitlin's teacher, she had a rough class this year.

Somehow I spaced Teacher Appreciation week and I wanted to let their teachers know how much I appreciated everything thing they did for my girls this year...I'm sure most of it went unnoticed. I try to buy flowers each year for their teachers just as a little thank you. I hope next year is as good as this year!

Girls Night Out

2009-06-26T16:27:00.000-06:00

Me, Jen, and Tami

We started doing girls night out last year. Every month we would go out to eat, go get pedicures, go to a movie or whatever we felt like. We were so good for the longest time until I went out of commission for a few months -- so we haven't done much since January. We finally scheduled a night to go out together, a much needed break I might add. :) We headed to Red Robin for some nummy food and then to a new yogurt shop in town for a tasty treat. It's always great to catch up on each of our busy lives. I'm lucky to have such great friends nearby who are always there when I need them! This was I think our 6th picture we ended up taking...I'm sure everybody was staring at us wondering what was up with our propped up camera on timer mode. :)

My 4 girls

2009-06-25T14:57:00.000-06:00

I have a big picture on my wall with Ellie in her blessing dress and the older 2 girls holding her. I wanted one to replace that one with Sophie in her blessing dress. I had a friend do it last time and I was going to have another friend do it this time, but I decided since I have a decent camera I would try to it myself. Let's just say that taking pictures is stressful! :) Trying to get them all to look nice, smile AT the camera, getting them to not talk to Sophie, and making them stay happy is a big job. Half way through Ellie decided that she was done. I was trying hard to be patient and be happy so she would get back in the picture with the rest of them. I had to bribe her with a piece of gum, it worked thank goodness! They didn't turn out perfect, but sometimes that is how life goes. :) I'm glad this is just a hobby and not my job.

School Biography Report

2009-06-24T13:29:00.004-06:00

The whole third grade participated in this project. They had to pick a positive role model and do a report on that person. They were also required to find a costume that would go along with their character. Ashlan of course picked Miley Cyrus....her teacher gave her permission, so I went along with it. :) The night before we ran to the trusty old Wal-Mart to see what we could find costume wise. We found this Hannah Montana dress on clearance for $7, some matching bracelets, and fake nails (which she earned from jobs and had been begging me to get). I'm not sure what other kids did their project on, but I'm glad I didn't have to be very creative in trying to find a costume to match her person. At the end of the day all the students at the school were able to go around and learn 3 facts about each of the characters by touching their hand -- kind of like statues. It sounded like a creative way to incorporate what they had learned through the reports they had written.

Memorial Day 2009

2009-06-06T00:02:00.004-06:00

We had a BBQ with friends on Saturday (sorry no pics). Ken's parents and brothers came on Monday to have a BBQ with us. We had a nice relaxing time with them. After playing badminton, we went inside and played a little Rock Band.I love this picture of Ken! What a handsome hubby I have. :)

Ken jumping off our back deck. He's been into Parkour lately and he jumps off everything.

Caitlin having fun swinging.

Ashlan practicing her back bends. She doesn't have any official training, I think I better stick her in something where she can actually learn proper technique.

3 Months Old

2009-06-05T23:19:00.004-06:00

Sophie is growing like a weed....(but cuter). She loves to be talked to and played with. She has found her smile and her laugh, sometimes she's not sure exactly how it all works. She's been sleeping pretty much through the night for over a month. She found her thumb today and was desperately trying to get something out of it. I'm not sure which I like better, thumb suckers or binkie suckers. I've had both and they are both hard to get rid of. Her sisters love to hold her, kiss her, and make her laugh.

Last Thursday she woke up from her nap a little warm. I figured I would take her temperature, but was sure it was just from being bundled up. It was not so, she had a 102.6 fever. I decided to call the dr. to see if they could give me any advice. With her being so young and the fever pretty high they wanted to see her. Of course I had book club at my house that night. I was planning to make a few more things, but ended up calling Ken to pick up the remainder of the meal at Sam's club on his way home. When I got there the dr. tried to look in her ears, but there was too much wax. She put some drops in her ears to let it sit and loosen up, Sophie did not like that! After figuring out that it wasn't her ears, they moved on to the next test -- a urine test. While that was getting tested they wanted to take some blood. She has such chubby arms that they couldn't find a good vein. They held her down and poked a couple times trying to find the right spot. It was torture for me (as it is for all moms I'm sure!). They finally moved down to the foot (not the first choice, but the only one left) and was able to get some. The Dr. came back saying that she had a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection). They gave her an antibiotic shot and I had to stay for another 20 minutes to make sure there wasn't an allergic reaction. I didn't get out of there until about 6:30 at which I raced home to get everything ready in time. It all worked out in the end. I took her back up the next afternoon to get a 2nd shot of antibiotics.

We are scheduled this Tuesday to get an ultrasound of her Kidneys (to make sure everything is okay with them because of the UTI). They will also do a bladder test -- they will need to sedate her, fill her bladder up with fluid and watch/take pictures of how it empties. I'm hoping that it was just a fluke thing that happened and it's not because she has reflux. We shall see!

Sophie's Blessing Day

2009-05-24T10:00:00.000-06:00

These past 3 months have just flown by! It was hard to think of a date for the blessing when we were still recovering from sickness. April zoomed by and May snuck up on us, so with June being so far away we decided to do it a few weeks into May. Ken has always wanted to do the blessing at home, but I was always hesitant. With this one though, it seemed to work out perfectly. Especially since we have 9 am church and my family drives from Orem -- they would have to leave pretty early to get there on time. So we did it this past Sunday night. There wasn't any pressure that usually accompanies blessing a baby at church, it was perfect. Ken did an awesome job, he is always thoughtful with the things he blesses them with. We had a dinner afterward and it was delicious. I'll always remember this special day.Sophie moments after the blessing. So peaceful.

Ken's parents and brother, Doug

My Grandma Pace and my Dad (who just got off guard to come).

Yay, soccer is over!

2009-05-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

I enjoy my girls playing soccer. It's quite cheap for a whole season that includes practices, uniforms, and a trophy while they get good exercise and learn coordination skills. However, when you have to be up and at the field at 8 am on a Saturday morning, it ruins it all. We had a good season though. Caitlin got hit in the face with the ball a few weeks before the end of the season so she was hesitate to go after the ball. This last game she was a defender and as the other team worked the ball up close to the goal she stood there with her hands on her hips while they shot one right through the net. It can be frustrating to watch your child not play 100% and you can try to talk to them till your blue in the face about getting in the game and helping their team, yet nothing changes. I think we'll try a different sport/activity next year.
Ashlan did really well the past few weeks. She really got in the game and was more aggressive than she had been in the past. She even got a couple goals the last couple games she played. I wasn't able to get any pictures of her last game because it was one of those times where we were rushing to get everybody ready and out the door but it wasn't working. So I told Ken to just take her while I stayed home with the other girls.

I love donuts!!!

2009-05-22T10:00:00.001-06:00

We were at Walmart last week and Ellie kept saying that she wanted a donut. It sure sounded good, how could I turn down a box of donuts to this cute little girl? So we get home and I tell her she needs to eat her sandwich all gone and then she could have her donut. She obeyed and so I split a donut between us. I went downstairs for a bit to feed the baby and after a few minutes it got quiet. I went upstairs and found that she had raided the donut box and picked out the nice chocolate frosted, raspberry filled donut for herself. She sure was proud of herself for picking out her own donut. And of course she ate 1/2 and played with the rest so it wasn't good for anybody else to eat. She definetly has turned into my wasteful child.

Mother's Day 2009

2009-05-17T23:07:00.006-06:00

It was a great Mother's Day this year. We spent some time with both sides of the family over the course of the weekend. It was my niece's birthday on Mother's day so my sister planned a big party with a pinata and lots of fun games for the kids. We all pitched in and got my mom "The Prince of Peace" picture from Liz Lemon Swindle. My sister-in-law works for Liz in her shop by making frames, so we're always able to get awesome deals on her paintings. I had fun taking pictures of the event, I got a few cute pictures of my nephew and Ashlan. I wish I had more time to dedicate to learning more about my camera and photography. I love taking pictures, I just need more practice.

On Mother's Day we all went to church for the first time together since Sophie was born. Boy was it a mad rush getting everybody dressed and hair done! I wish I had more time to make their hair look cute (without waking up at 5 am), but having 9 am church we're barely making it out the door....not necessarily happy either. I like to consider myself a punctual person (or at least I try my best) and I do not like being late to anything. So when the clock is ticking and it's time to be out the door and we're not ready I start stressing. Then we all end up at church (or wherever) in a bad mood, because when Mom is unhappy nobody is happy. Ken reminds me each time that it doesn't matter if we're a few minutes late, it's not the end of the world. Thanks for the continual reminders hon, I'm sorry I still don't get it after 11 years. :) I came home with Ellie and Sophie after sacrament meeting -- we're gradually making it back while trying to avoid anymore sickness. We headed to Ken's parents for dinner. His brother, John, was awesome and made the whole dinner and it was DELICIOUS! It was nice to be pampered for a day and not have to cook anything. He also brought his guinea pigs for the girls to play with since every time we get together they beg him to bring them. We ended the night with fun competition of UNO and Pictionary. Ken felt bad that he didn't get me anything, but I told him I didn't need anything because I had already taken care of my present....it's just easier that way. :) Desert Book had their art on sale and I had a coupon for $10 off, so I went and ordered "The Lord is My Shepherd" by Simon Dewey. I can't wait to get it! Oh, and Ken's parents were kind and offered to come over Friday night to watch the girls for us while we went out to dinner. It was our first outing without the baby in tow...it was nice to get away for a moment without the girls.

Spring has brought me such a nice surprise....

2009-05-17T22:56:00.003-06:00

I LOVE Spring time!! It's when all the blossoms come out in full bloom. It means that it's getting warmer (no more snow -- that should be the rule anyway) and summer is around the corner. It means we can pack all the coats away and get out the jackets or go without. I love my Aristocrat Pear tree -- it makes me happy to see it getting bigger and filled with more blossoms each year.

Easter Sunday

2009-04-29T15:00:00.001-06:00

I sent the two older girls to church with Ken, I've been staying home with Ellie and Sophie since she was born. Maybe one of these Sundays I'll actually get to go to church...when it finally gets warm (and stays warm) and the germs go away. It's getting old really fast! It will be nice when we can finally go out and do stuff as a whole family.

We headed to Ken's parents after they got home from church. We all got dressed up (even though only 1/2 was dressed up to begin with) so we could get some cute Easter pictures. We ate a tasty dinner and had a great visit with family. The girls went on a little hunt for eggs and enjoyed flying kites they got for Easter with their uncles.

My 4 adorable girls.

Easter Celebrations

2009-04-29T12:00:00.002-06:00

We were planning to go to my parents on Easter Sunday, but my dad was going to be on shift at the fire station and wouldn't get to join us. So we switched it to Saturday and combined it with our April birthdays. I was in charge of making the cake. As usual, I went all out and it took me all day to do. I don't know how professional cake decorators do it! It's fun to do every once in a while and I enjoy the creative side of it. If you ever want some cute cake ideas go here, they are super easy (for the most part) and fun!
We had fun coloring eggs -- we got some interesting color combinations and designs. We played a fun game with them after they were dry. Everybody took a turn rolling their colorful decorated egg to the plain white egg in the center of the room -- they had to get the closest to it without touching it. We of course couldn't end without the traditional Easter egg fight.
The Easter bunny decided to come that day instead of Sunday -- we're trying to make Easter Sunday more special, not just about the loads of candy they get in their baskets. It seemed to work and the girls didn't care that they didn't get anything on Sunday.

Our awesome eggs, Ken hanging out with Sophie who was hooked up to her oxygen, and the girls with their baskets they found with their cousins.

Happy Birthday Caitlin!

2009-04-28T15:19:00.010-06:00

Her birthday was at the beginning of April (I'm slowly getting caught up.) I can't believe she is already 7! She really wanted a friends party, but it just didn't seem to work out this year. We'll have to plan a fun one for next year. I was worried that she wasn't going to have a very good birthday because we have been cooped up in the house and couldn't really go anywhere. Ken was able to take the day off at the last minute so he could take her to lunch -- she was upset that I couldn't take her out to lunch like Ken & I did for Ashlan. Ken refused to take the camera to McDonald's to take pictures for me. :)

Caitlin and her cousin, Brylee with their twinner jackets.

Grandma and Grandpa Adams stopped by after school to say Happy Birthday and give her a cute outfit. We had a nice visit with them (I forgot to take some pictures). My mom called earlier in the day to say that my dad would be getting out of guard late afternoon and they could come up. So it worked out that they were able to come up and have a little party -- along with my sister Kristy and her family. After it was all said and done, Caitlin had a pretty fun day. I felt like a horrible mom -- but you can only do so much when you're already given a full plate.

A few more pictures of the baby....

2009-04-23T11:35:00.002-06:00

Before the Hospital

In the Hospital

Finally at Home!